A Job Application Needs To Be Legal

Caution! You can go to almost any office supply store and purchase blank job application forms that seem perfectly legal and appropriate to use! Not so fast! You better first understand how many new laws are on the books prohibiting certain questions on a job application. Questions that not so long ago would have been perfectly fine, but today violate the law! Remember that ignorance is no excuse for violating the law and certainly will not protect you in a discrimination law suit. This world is full of people wanting to hit the jackpot with a law suit and you may be playing right into their hands.

Job Application

What Questions Are Not Allowed on A Job Application?

State by state some of the laws allowing or disallowing certain questions to be asked are in place and ready to hold you accountable at the moment someone files a claim. Even questions today like asking about a person's educational accomplishments may place you in jeopardy of breaking the law, depending on your state and whether it has an impact on their ability to perform the job you are hiring for. If you are hiring for a brain surgeon then knowing the educational level of an individual applicant will have an impact on the performance of the position. On the other hand, if you are hiring a housekeeper, you may only require that they can read and write. Gets complicated doesn't it?

One of the best sources I know of is U.S. Legal Forms. They offer the best selection of every type of legal form and they are prepared based on the state you are from. Yes, there are differences as we stated above. Even requesting a photo from a person submitting an application by mail is considered a discriminatory practice. The only exception to this may be if the job requires a certain look, perhaps a female model for short petite clothing. For most jobs the look of a person would have nothing to do with the actual performance of that job. Some may argue that a sales position may be affected by the way someone looks, however, I would argue that their past sales performance should provide more than enough to determine if they will be successful for you.

A common question found on most job application forms is whether the applicant has ever been arrested. Sounds like a fair question if you are an employer. After all, do you want someone in your workplace that has any type of criminal history? Why wouldn't a question like that be allowed? As it turns out, merely asking if someone has ever been arrested may be a discriminatory practice in most states. They consider it discriminatory because more ethnic individuals are arrested than Caucasians. The second factor is that just because someone was arrested does not necessarily mean that they were guilty of a crime.

Let's address the educational question again for more clarity. Merely placing a question like when did you graduate from high school or college on job application forms could help indicate that someone is over forty years old. Because it can do this by default it is considered possibly age discrimination, especially if you only hire individuals less than forty years old. U.S. Legal Forms understands and ensures that the job application forms they provide meet the state requirements. This takes the worry out of it for you. Now of course that does not mean that you can ignore worrying about it for all the years to come. You must stay on top of all the most current labor laws, or continue to develop a business relationship with a company like U.S. Legal Forms.

I hope by now as a business owner you realize that asking a question that could directly be related to determining someone's race, color, religion, national origin, creed, age, or sex are not permitted and considered to be illegal on job application forms. Unless you are hiring a pastor for your church there is not much need to know whether someone is of a certain religion or not. You can ask if someone is less than eighteen, but the question must be very specific to that and that only. As an example, you can't ask for someone's birth date to determine if they are under eighteen. You can ask specifically if they are under eighteen. Don't get it mixed up!

There are many more questions that can be considered illegal depending on the state that you are from and a quick way to make sure is to contact U.S. Legal Forms through this website page and find out. You may save a few dollars by getting your job applications from a box office supply warehouse, but in the end, you may be paying for that bargain later!

Thank you and may God bless you!